How Bad Do You Want It?
by scribblernamedmeg
Summary: Shannon would do anything to help her friends, as long as they answered one question with total honesty. When her friends ask her to help a friend of theirs, she asks the same question only to get a reply she'd never heard before. "I'd give my life for this." At that, she knew she'd better buckle up, things were gonna get crazy.


(A/N: Yes, yes. I know. Another story! Blame it on the fact that I cried like a baby at the end of the last FAF movie. Each time, and I watched that thing like five times. So yeah, the creative hat is glued to my head, and I'm popping chapters out like a Pez dispenser.

 **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE. I ONLY OWN MY OC/SHANNON AND HER CAT.**

 **Please don't sue. And yes, I've tweaked a few things, but hey, artistic license baby! Next chapter will be pretty close to the movie, I promise.**

On that lovely note, please read and enjoy. If you have any questions, comments or whatever, shoot them my way and I'll reply asap.)

 **Prologue**

 _(location: florida, u.s.a)_

With a tired sigh, Shannon pulled into her parking spot by the docks, absentmindedly yawning and shifting the car into park while she gathered her phone, backpack and lighter from the passenger seat. Opening the door, she slid out of her truck, booted feet landing solidly on the cracked pavement. After slinging her backpack over one shoulder and stuffing her phone and lighter into the back pocket of her jeans that wasn't ripped, she glared in the general direction of the sun and lifted her heavy ponytail off the back of her neck, fanning the area with a hand to try and lessen the heat.

Accepting the fact that she would just have to deal with it till she got to her boat-home-thing, she took off down the boardwalk, boots making a thumping noise with each step, tanned skin showing in the many rips in her jeans with each step pulling at the fabric. Her backpack pulled on her shoulders, bunching up the fabric of her tank top, and she yanked the fabric back down as she passed a fellow house-boat liver, rolling her eyes as his lingered on her chest, cleavage bared by the low tank-top.

Men, no matter what state she lived in, were all the same. Have a bit of cleavage, and they'll never look you in the eye again.

Reaching her small, temporary home, she stepped off the dock and onto the gently bobbing boat, grabbing her keys from her back-pack's side pocket.

When she stepped into the air conditioned living room/dining room/kitchenette, she sighed again, but this time with relief. Dropping her bag onto the coffee table, she collapsed onto the worn, cushy couch and toed off her boots, wriggling her toes in their mismatched socks, and enjoying the tingling sensation as feeling came back to her pinky toes. With the air conditioning cooling her heated skin, Shannon grabbed another elastic band from around her wrist and twisted her long ponytail into a messy bun, getting the hair off her neck. Digging into her pocket, she yanked out her phone and lighter, setting both on the book-littered table before reaching under the couch for an old cigar box.

Setting it on her lap, she grabbed the glass pipe and a knife, scraping any residue in the bowl off and into the the ash tray before grabbing a ziplock from the box and grabbing a pinch or two of the green contents and placing it in the bowl of the pipe. After making sure it was full and well packed (not too tight and not too loose), she raised the pipe to her lips and was about to light it when her phone started buzzing on the wooden table, the screen lit up with a familiar name.

Grabbing it with a free hand, she flipped her phone open and sank back into the cushions.

"No." she greeted, knowing what was about to be asked of her.

"Sassy, my love!" came the familiar male voice, two other males and a female could be heard laughing in the background. "I've got a favor to ask."

"I said no, Tej!" Shannon griped, but set the pipe back into the cigar box and shutting it, knowing that she was about to be talked into doing something stupid again.

"There's a race tonight, and we need our very own Sassy to be there." Tej spoke, his well enunciated words and proper english at total odds with his appearance, which was one of the reasons she enjoyed hanging out with him and his friends, even though they were racers.

"I don't race, you know this." She pointed out, and Tej scoffed and laughed.

"I know, Sassy." Tej replied in the same tone of voice. "I need you on the scanner."

"And where are you going to be?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to be enjoying the show." Tej exclaimed happily, and Shannon sighed again, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder so she could reach for a well-worn boot.

"I was just about to smoke a bowl, Tej." She complained as she easily slid one foot, then the other, into her boots.

"Long day at work?" Tej asked, concern creeping into his voice. He knew that she only fired up the pipe when she was stressed or upset.

"No, I didn't work today. Thursday is my college classes day, so I was at the community college, which meant I dealt with creepy, grabby college guys all day." Shannon explained while she moved from the couch to her bedroom, where she crawled over her massive bed that took up most of the room, to where her closet lay open, clothes filling one side, the other occupied with a litter box and a cat tree, where a small, fluffy cat lay, bright green eyes peering over the edge of the top basket. Reaching out a hand, she tickled the tip of one ear, smiling at the diesel engine purr that started up. Crouching down, she dug though a box of old laptops and cables, searching for a familiar black box. "Hey Tej, you have the scanner? I thought I kept it after the last time." Shannon asked, switching her phone to the other ear as she pulled out another box.

"Nah, girl. I got it from you last week." Tej replied. "You were half-asleep when I dropped by."

"Oh yeah." Shannon muttered, straightening up. "I'd just gotten back from work, and barely slept half an hour before you almost knocked my door down."

"It's called knocking." Tej shot back, just as a ball of fluff jumped onto Shannon's shoulder, and began purring, twisting and weaving around her neck and shoulders. "I hear purring."

"Marls jumped on my shoulders." Shannon explained, walking on her knees across her bed again, heading to the living room, Marley the cat jumping off to make herself comfortable on the window ledge that encompassed most of the space above her headboard.

"She's such a sweetheart." Tej cooed, and paused as uproarious laughter echoed in the background. "Shut up, I was talking about her cat."

"Doesn't make it sound any better, dude." Shannon chuckled, as someone said something along the same lines in the background.

"All ya'll fuckers are perverts." Tej grumped, and she could just see the man throwing his arms in the air on exasperation.

"Poor baby." Shannon teased, laughing when Tej growled at her through the phone.

"Just get your ass to the garage, Shan." Tej ordered, then paused before speaking again. "And bring the cat." he ordered, then hung up.

Lifting the phone from her ear, she stared at the black screen, Tej's last words running through her mind for a second before she let out a brief laugh, shoving her phone into her back pocket again. That guy had a weird infatuation with her cat. Rolling her eyes, she yanked open a drawer in the kitchenette and grabbed a light blue cat harness, retractable leash attached.

At the sound of the attached little bell tinkling, the gray and white ball of fur came running from the bedroom, and jumped up onto the back of the sofa, soft meows proclaiming her excitement. With a chuckle, she lightly scratched her cat under her chin before slipping the harness on, making sure the strap around her middle wasn't too tight, but tight enough to keep her from escaping. When that was done and the leash was attached, Shannon patted her shoulder and leaned down so Marley could jump up and settle her self next to her neck.

"Weirdo cat." she muttered fondly, grabbing her backpack again and heading out the front door, pausing to lock the door behind her.

With a fluffy tail tickling the back of her neck, Shannon made her way back towards her truck and headed towards the garage Tej owned, about ten minutes away.

As she got closer to her location, she saw that Tej had already started prepping for the race tonight, blocking off important roads and intersections with 'Road Closed' signs and traffic cones. Easily maneuvering her truck around them, she kept a free hand on Marley's harness to keep her from falling out the open window she was sticking her head out of, small paws braced.

She knew she was close when she heard thumping bass, car engines being revved, and the loud chatter of almost a hundred people showing off. Even before she was a block away from the garage, she was forced to hit the breaks as she turned the corner, the massive crowd of people blocking her way.

Rolling her eyes, she hit the train horn she had added to her truck, smirking as some floozy's in barely there skirts jumped as they walked in front of the truck. Laughing as they gave her the finger, she eased on the gas, slowly making her way through the throngs, using the horn when people where too dense to realize a massive truck was right behind them. The party must have recently started as there was no one lined up to race yet, which meant she had plenty of time to poke her head into the garage and say hello to her friends. While she slowly made her way through the crowd, she eyed the outfits of some of the women and felt a little over-dressed for the occasion in her ripped jeans, black tank top, worn cowboy boots and messy bun, but couldn't bring herself to care so she shrugged and out it out of her mind.

As she pulled into the spot in front of the garage that was spray painted with a pink crown (Suki and Jimmy's idea of a joke), she left the keys in the ignition and scooped up her cat, knowing that no one would mess with her truck, not if they ever wanted to be invited to one of Tej's races again.

Walking into the scarily organized mechanic shop, she saw her favorite group of people sitting at a plastic table, cards strewn all over it as they played yet another poker game, laughing and taunting each other as they always did. As soon as she was close enough, she set Marley down on the ground and watched as she ran up to the group, leash trailing behind her.

"Kitty!" Suki grinned, throwing down her cards and gently grabbing the cat, cuddling her to her face for a second before turning her head to look at Shannon, who by that time had made her way closer to the table. "Hey Sassy, how's it going?" she greeted her with a genuine smile.

"Same shit, different day." Shannon replied, reaching out to bump her fist against the artists own fist. "Who's winning?" she asked, flashing a peace sign to Jimmy, the mechanic throwing one back in return, accompanied by a head nod.

"I am, baby!" Jimmy grinned, showing the stack of cash he'd won.

"Yeah, for now." Tej threatened, tossing in two bills as another of his mechanics burned and flipped a card.

"You guys know there's a rave going on outside, right?" Shannon asked, pulling up a chair and dropping into it, watching as Suki set Marley down, the cat making her way across the table to her second favorite human. "I'm pretty sure I saw a few people dropping acid too." she mused, grinning as Tej lost his 'tough guy' persona and let Marley jump onto his shoulders, one hand scratching her in her favorite spot, causing the light purr that had been there since she'd been picked up by Suki to almost triple in noise.

"Got one more card to flip, Sass." Jimmy replied, he too pausing in his game to reach out and pat the small cat. "Gotta make some money since Tej pays me shit." he taunted the garage owner with a smirk, to which Tej rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, cuz you ain't work all the tax dollars, Jimbo." Tej replied, huge afro trembling as he shook his head.

"Have they been like this all night?" Shannon asked the only other female in the room, and Suki grinned, nodding her head.

"All day, sister." the half Asian woman replied with a laugh.

"Just flip the damn card!" Jimmy interrupted, throwing a wadded up napkin at his fellow mechanic who threw it back and flipped the card. Jimmy then crowed in joy as he slapped his cards down and started picking up the money in the middle of the table. "King high, two Jacks bitches!" he laughed as Tej groaned. The other mechanic sighed and threw his cards down, shaking his head and leaving the table.

"Man, king high?" Tej asked, then grinned, showing all his teeth as he put down his own cards. "Try two aces on for size, bitch!" he cackled as he grabbed the money out of Jimmy's hands, the mechanic slumping down in his seat with a good-natured grin.

"That's pretty impressive, Tej." Suki said sweetly, Shannon catching the coy glance her friend threw her way, and chuckled as the woman gently laid down her cards, one by one. "But I think trip aces, queen high will win me the pot." she said as Tej and Jimmy's mouths fell open.

"Dammit woman!" Tej shook his fist in the air, the grin on his face showing that the threat was empty and meaningless.

Just then, the walkie Tej had attached to his cover-all blared to life, static coming through the speaker before a voice told them that the other racers were here.

"Alright people, its time to party!" he yelled, standing up and transferring Marley back over to Shannon's shoulders. "Jimmy, grab the scanner for Sassy." he called as he made his way out the door leading to the road.

"Yes boss!" Jimmy sassed back, but grabbed the black box off the hood of an old car up on lifts. "Here ya go, girlie." Jimmy winked, the followed the huge afro'd man out.

"I thought my nickname was Sassy?" Shannon joked with Suki as the woman finished putting away her winnings, noticing for the first time the purple leather chaps she wore. "You racing?" she asked, tucking the scanner under her arm.

"You bet!" Suki grinned, grabbing a polishing rag off the hood of another car, making her way to the crowd, where her purple convertible was being taken care of by Suki's all female team.

"I'll be rooting for ya." Shannon replied, waving over her shoulder as she headed to her truck again, blowing Marley's tail out of the way.

Once situated in the lifted truck, with Marley sitting on the dashboard, green eyes watching the crowd, she turned on the scanner and waited till the static died down, keeping an ear out for anything that would take the majority of the cops away from the general area of the race.

Her cellphone trilled to life, and she flipped it open, already knowing who it was.

"We good?" Tej asked, then said something to someone, probably one of the other drivers, since it was something about needing a fourth racer or they'd forfeit the race.

"Not yet." Shannon replied, turning the scanner's dial to see if there was anything else.

"Aight." Tej said distractedly. "Use that god-awful horn of yours when we're in the clear. I gotta make a call."

"Ten-four." she replied, snapping the phone shut and turning the volume up on the scanner, absently picking cat hair off her black tank top, and reflecting on how she'd met the group.

She wasn't quite sure how it all happened, but ever since she'd taken her truck to Tej's garage for a transmission issue, after joking with Jimmy about the size of her tires and complimenting Suki on her car's detailing, she'd somehow been accepted into the fold of the misfits and troublemakers. When Suki had learned that Shannon was staying at a run-down motel while she went to college part time, she'd offered up her old boathouse for half the price of the hotel room. And Tej, who was a softie under all the bluster, offered Shannon a job helping with the bookkeeping, for both legal and illegal businesses. Jimmy, on the other hand, tinkered under her truck's hood from time to time, keeping it 'tuned up' as he claimed, but Shannon knew that he was upgrading her engine slowly but surely. For her birthday last year, the group had surprised her with the best lift, suspension and shock kit for her truck.

All in all, she was happy with her little group.

Suddenly, a shout from the scanner interrupted her trip down memory lane, and she grabbed for Marley's leash while she reached for the train horn button, making sure her cat wouldn't freak out as the loud horn blared.

Next thing she knew, four cars sped past, an unfamiliar silver car in second place, but riding the bumper of the car in front as they screeched around the corner.

"That's some impressive blowing skills ya got there, Sassy." Tej winked as he appeared by her window, making her jump as she turned the scanner off, knowing that once the cops were out of the area, they would be there for a while and the race would be over soon.

"Oh shut up, ya lump of lard." Shannon drawled, putting her southern accent to good use.

"Ouch." Tej mock-pouted, but propped his arm up on the windowsill all the same, having to reach up to do so, and he was also probably on tip-toes. "You going home now, or you going to stay and see the surprise I got for the finish line?" he asked, reaching out to tickle Marley's ears with his fingertips as she walked up, meowing for attention.

"I don't have to be at work till noon, so why the hell not." Shannon decided in a split-second that she didn't want to be home alone, and that she could use the time with good friends.

"Excellent." Tej clapped his hands. "I want you to meet the new driver. I think you two will get along." he teased.

"You don't want me any more?" Shannon quipped, sticking her lower lip out in a pout. "But I thought we had something special!" she made her lower lip quiver, pretending she was about to burst into tears.

"You know it ain't like that, baby!" Tej returned, dark eyes sparkling with mirth. "For serious though, he's a cool guy and he doesn't know many people here. Figured you two might have something in common."

"A'ight." Shannon nodded, dropping the act of 'wounded high-maintenance girlfriend'.

"Sweet." Tej grinned, then reached out and plucked Marley out of Shannon's lap. "Now get your perfect ass out of the truck and come watch my brilliance."

"You're so humble." Shannon quipped under her breath as she made shoo'ing motion's with her hands so she could open her door and drop to the ground.

"You know it." Tej winked over his shoulder, Marley perfectly comfortable being curled up in the crook of his arm. Shannon rolled her eyes, but kept in step with the excited man as he led the way to the train tracks.

"Uh, Tej?" Shannon asked, looking around and seeing Jimmy by the control box. "You gonna do what I think you're gonna do?" she asked, heart picking up it's pace as a real train horn sounded in the distance.

"Probably." Tej laughed, passing Marley back to her before turning around to face the crowd that was growing behind them. "Didn't I say y'all would be surprised?" he yelled, and the crowd roared in approval.

"You're crazy." Shannon shouted to Tej and he just laughed. Shannon made sure she had a good grip on Marley before carefully covering her ears, knowing that loud noises would freak her out.

"Here they come!" someone shouted, and sure enough, Shannon could see four different sets of headlights coming straight for them.

Just then, the caution lights and barrier sticks started to drop as the train got closer.

"Now Jimmy!" Tej roared, and the lights stopped and the barriers went back up as the cars got closer and the train hollered at them. The crowd went silent as they watched the cars fight for first place, the driver of the silver car doing an amazing job of keeping the others behind him.

With her heart in her throat, Shannon watched as the cars put on an extra burst of speed, all four of them barely making it across the train tracks before the train rushed past, horn blaring angrily.

"Jesus." she whispered to herself, bringing her cat closer to her chest to try and calm her heart rate down. "He's fucking insane!"

"All the best people are." Tej whispered in her ear, having caught what she said, and Shannon blushed, cursing her pale skin before whirling around to where the cars skidded to a stop, Suki's creating sparks as her back bumper scraped against the asphalt.

As she made her way closer to the cars, she watched as the right side door opened on the silver car and a man got out, his blonde hair catching the streetlight, a contrast from his dark shirt. He grinned and waved to the crowd, who cheered and hollered at him, before he made his way to Siku's car and opened the door for her, offering a hand and what looked to be congratulations on coming in second. Suki laughed and leaned in to kiss his cheek just as Tej walked up, pulling a thick wad of cash from his pocket.

"Here ya go, Bullit!" he yelled, catching everyone's attention. " 16 G's, all for you."

'Bullit' accepted the money with a smile, and while Tej congratulated him, he pulled out a handful of bills and placed them in Tej's hand that was reaching for a handshake.

"Mutual respect." The man called Bullit said in way of explaining, and Shannon could have sworn that Tej swooned a little. Suki laughing and shaking her head caught Shannon's eye, and Suki clutched her heart and staggered a bit, pretended to swoon, making fun of Tej behind his back.

"All right people! Stay if you want, but the VIP party starts now!" Tej yelled, and a few people booed as they dispersed.

"That means you stay Sassy." Tej called out, making a few heads turn as he called her out, forcing attention on her.

"I heard you the first time, you big bully." She called back as Suki waved her over.

"Come on, I'll drive you to the garage." Suki offered, leaning over the stick shift to open the passenger door. "Why walk when you have a car?"

"Right on." Shannon laughed, dropping into the seat, careful not to jostle the cat on her arm. "Your car gonna be ok?" she asked as Suki shifted gears, turning the corner to Tej's shop.

"Oh yeah. Just gotta put on a new bumper and do a new paint job." Suki replied, no worry in her words.

"Gotcha." Shannon nodded, enjoying the breeze the moving car created and marveling at her friends easy attitude to loosing that much money and having to fix her car.

Suki pulled right into the garage and into one of the work stations and climbed out, Shannon following suit. Tej, Jimmy, 'Bullit' and a few others walked in a few minutes after.

"Sassy!" Tej called, practically skipping over to where she and Suki were lounging in reclining lawn chairs, Suki teasing Marley with the end of her leash, causing the little cat to pounce and do flips as the object was moved.

"Yo!" Shannon replied, lifting her beer bottle in the air in reply, Suki chuckling as she took a sip of her drink.

"Sassy, this is Bullit aka Brian." Tej introduced the blonde driver of the silver car. "Brian, this is my Sassy-"

"Also known as Shannon." She interrupted, reaching out a hand to shake the one outstretched to her. "That was some pretty fancy driving." she added, and once her hand was free, she reached into the cooler next to her and grabbed another beer bottle.

"Hope you like Corona." she said, handing him the beer and mentally making a note to ask why his smile dropped for a second before it came back up, but not with quite the same wattage as before.

"I don't mind it." he replied, and took the offered drink. "Thank you, by the way." he said, tipping his head at her.

"No prob." she waved off the thanks and hooked her foot around the leg of a chair as Suki pulled up another. "Take a seat and join the group." she motioned to the seat next to her as Tej flopped into the one Suki added to the weird circle.

Shannon watched as Brian hesitated for a brief second before sitting down cautiously before she spoke again.

"So. Tell me one thing." she started seriously, noticing that Suki and Tej were sharing an amused smile at her expense, and also noticing that Brian stiffened, the beer bottle pausing at his lips before he took a sip. "What the hell was with that move around the first corner?! I've never seen anyone do a turn that close! It was like watching a man orgasm, that's how beautiful it was!" she gushed, breaking out into a smile as Tej roared with laughter and Suki snickered as Brian choked on his drink, spitting it out as he too laughed, eyes flickering with relief.

Shannon didn't pry into why he was relieved she didn't ask the usual questions like 'where'd you come from' or 'what are you doing in Miami?', knowing that everyone had a past. She knew that if he wanted, he would tell them something once he felt comfortable.

And just like that, Brian was part of their group, and a rock solid friendship that would last years was formed.


End file.
